Issued by African National Congress - Parliament
25 March 2003
Speaker!
Deputy Speaker!
Ministers and Deputy Ministers!
Members!
Support for the Budget
The ANC fully support the budget for the year 2003/4 and the estimates for the 2004/5 and 2005/6, including programmes as stipulated by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
The programmes include the Administration, Foreign Relations, Public Diplomacy and Protocol, Foreign Properties and Auxiliary and Associated Services.
Importantly, in the programmes are the strategic and key political aspects, which has put South Africa as an important player in the International politics and global affairs. The success in holding the Conference on Racism and other forms of discrimination and intolerance and the launch of the African Union last year, in 2002 are some of the highlights of our role which received acknowledgement by the world.
We continue to strengthen solidarity with the developing world, building partnerships with the developed world to foster sustainable development. We are also promoting good governance, sustainable socio-economic development and poverty eradication in Africa. And participating in international efforts to seek an everlasting peace and stability in conflict-ridden areas.
Again, South Africa was Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement and is currently Chairperson of the African Union, is participating in SADC, Commonwealth Committee, in SACU, the United Nations and all its bodies and in all the Brettonwood Institutions.
The world has integrated and became a village but the gap between the rich and poor countries is huge. If we are to succeed in playing a role, championing are values and strategic goals for a better world for the human kind, we must be active players and lead when appointed to positions of importance.
We also, should educate our people to know and understand that the world has changed and is changing, while domestic issues are of critical importance and indeed they are a priority to our government and our movement and must be addressed, some of the solutions to our domestic problems need the world bodies, bilateral and commissions, multilateral institutions, fair trade relations, etc, for us to be able to narrow the gap between the developed and the developing countries.
Our people must know that when the leadership of the country attends to the meetings it is about engaging on the challenges, it is about the narrowing of the widened gap between the rich and the poor and is also about championing or advancing the aspirations of the third world countries. Therefore should reject and denounce the so-called prophetic verses of the doomed prophets, who say that we care less about the domestic challenges. The doomed prophets lack vision and behave as if South Africa is not an African country, and act as if South Africa is not part of the poor Sub-Saharan world.
The prophets of doom pretend as if South Africa is in the first world, that we were not part of the colonized countries and therefore there are no legacy implications left by centuries of colonialism which disadvantaged the indigenous people of this country. They behave as if South Africa was not colonized for over 300 years, pretend as if there was no apartheid and as if everybody was equal and pretends as if we were not discriminated against, denied the education system which was to potentially prepare us for the challenges of this modern era.
Refuse to be fooled, and they will come amongst you and tell lies about this government not caring as if they ever cared. Let them not mislead you in their smooth talk, and beware that they will even come to you and claim easy victories and this reminds me of a quotation by one African great leader, Amilca Cabral when he said; "Tell no Lies and Claim no Easy Victories".
From now you, our people should know that when the President, or Deputy President or Minister of Foreign Affairs and/or the Deputy Minister or other Ministers or deputy Ministers engages with issues of the world, is because they care about you, they are engaging the world to create a better one, are raising issues of the poor countries which South Africa is part of. They are involved on your behalf, in leveling the playing field on matters of trade and investment to push back the frontiers of poverty in our country and in the developing countries.
War in IRAQ and challenges
The Foreign Affairs Budget vote is taking place unfortunately, at the time when the world and international situation is in crisis as a result of the war on IRAQ. We have witnessed since the past five days, (it is the sixth day today) the raining of heavy bombs on Iraq, (in an operation called "shock and awe"), we hear sounds explosions & thunders, sirens wailing, smokes going up in some cities of Iraq, soldiers under cover of tanks and gun planes and helicopters moving into Iraq, as if we are watching one of the Holly wood movies.
Horrifying pictures about the injured and dead, about prisoners of war and headlines such as "War on Iraq", "Strike on Iraq", "The cost of war on Iraq", "Country under siege", etc, daily shown and written in our media.
Millions of people in the USA, in Europe, Asia, in Africa including here at home and all over the world are shocked, terrified, angry, dismayed, horrified and continued to oppose the war as the means to resolve our problems.
The war brings with it death, it inflicts injuries, destroys buildings and infrastructure, and the majority of the people affected are civilians. Once more children and women suffer the consequence of a calamity, human beings could have avoided. Restating ANC and our Government positions:
Repeatedly, the ANC and our government have stated in statements and speeches that any war on IRAQ must be a UN sanctioned war. We have stated that we do not hold a brief for Saddam Hussein, we do not support nor did support the regime of Saddam Hussein, as far as the atrocity he has or might have committed including on the violation of human rights.
The ANC, is also not supporting any unilateral positions taken by the most powerful nations which actions undermine the very important institutions that were created to be a platforms for settling disputes and for creating a better world.
We as the ANC are not on any sides on this war and merely are opposed to protect the principle of multi-lateral politics, a call a call for respect of the United Nations and the International Laws.
South Africa contributed immensely to the debate in the world in arguing for the UN Resolutions 1441, calling for the peaceful disarmerment of IRAQ. It called for the report of the inspectors to be presented in the UN General Assembly to allow for transparency for the first time in the history of the UN. It sent delegations to meet with the IRAQ authorities to urge them to comply fully and cooperate with the UN and for IRAQ to fully implement the UN resolutions. We also offered to help by sending our scientists to IRAQ, unfortunately as the offer was being consider, the war was started.
However some in the house continuously and deliberately distort positions of government and those of the ANC. They either tell lies to deceive the nation or for political point scoring, even on matters magnitute to the world. I do not think the ANC is speaking in parables, in this house. To quote from the scripture reading, in Matthew chapter 3, verse 13 and 14.
"Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing they do not understand". And it continues, and says, "You will be ever hearing but never understanding, you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes."
It would seem some in the house have Genetically Modified Brains or Genetically Modified Minds. They can't think straight. Their thinking is skewed. For example, they are the one who were pushing everybody to such extend of calling the ANC cowards about legislating the crossing of the floor. When it happened last in the Local Government, they screamed that the ANC wanted to create a one party state this spells the end of multi-party democracy, so they claimed. Today, they are the ones smiling for getting new members who joined them from the NNP.
One reason given by one of the new member to DP he said, "He is joining the DP because it was fighting for democracy, as the ANC wanted top erode multi-party democracy. A Genetically Modified Brain person will argue like that, and forget that there was yesterday and will forget where we come from as a country. He refuses to acknowledge and praise the ANC. For members who might have a problem of Genetically Modifie Brains, the ANC will defend, protect and respect good governance, democracy and human rights. We have suffered in the past and we know better what it means not to have democracy in society. Impacts post the IRAQ war
We see today, the most powerful and strong saying they are right and acting unilateral, the strong and powerful saying they have all the rights in the world and the strong and powerful who say they have no constrains. We see the strong and powerful bullying everybody and cajoling the weak nations and undermining the very multilateral institutions we set to resolve political disputes.
The will have negative impact on all multi lateral institutions. People will no longer have faith in institutions, if we allow others disregard them. Already, other people are saying the UN is useless, toothless and irrelevant. Is this the world we are to live under post the IRAQ war? Or is it the world that we are to build for generations to come? I doubt it and we should act now to bring sanity to some human beings.
Our focus as the country is to ensure that bodies such as the UN are transformed and strengthen for the challenges of the 21st century and our major challenge post the war, is to bring back the respect and confidence to such bodies. We dare not fail.
Africa's programme, the NEPAD will suffer a set back as the world is now focusing on IRAQ, and the programme is off on the agenda of the world bodies. Instead of focusing on peace, development and creation of a better world, the main focus is on the war in Iraq and thereafter will be on post - IRAQ. Already theories are being developed; scenarios presented and analytical expressions are on the type of the world being reshaped before our eyes.
Many see war on IRAQ as annexation, others say it is the colonization of the country, other views says, the powerful and strong will change governments elected by people in countries that opposed war and to those regarded as "axis of evil". Many more will be worried about loyalties and will lose the focus on the fundamental issue of development in third world countries.
Estimations are that over 72 billions of US Dollars are to be spend on the war on Iraq and post the war; other billions will be spend on the so-called reconstruction of Iraq. Where does this leave Africa?
Strategic Overview and policy development
South Africa continues to play a role in the global community and particularly in Africa. There is a wider acceptance and acknowledgement of the role South Africa is playing in global affairs, as described by the Department of Foreign Affairs.
My focus in this budget vote is mainly on Africa and its continued challenges, which are underdevelopment, non-growing economies, diseases such as malaria, TB HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, conflicts, coups, human rights violations, lack of access to land, illiteracy & innumeracy, wars, exploitation of its natural resources, refugees fleeing from their homes and wars/conflicts in their own countries.
Africa
As we are meeting in this august house, another coup has taken place two weeks ago, (Saturday, March 15th, 2003) in the Central African Republic. No one has spoken about the coup except the ANC. Not even the so-called proponents of good governance and human rights as they have anointed the tile to themselves during debate on NEPAD Peer Review Mechanism, last year, November, are quiet. To the Africa is Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe is Africa.
It is unfortunate that even in this era, where African leaders have pledged and committed themselves to rid the country of the bad image of coups, there are still amongst us, those who are bent to continuing with their greed motives and power at all cost.
A week before the coup in Central Africa Republic the ANC (Luthuli House) assigned me to meet with a delegation led by the Special Presidential envoy and accompanied by one of the leaders of the opposition parties, who were in the country to study, share our own experience of negotiations in particular on reconciliation and nation building.
Their country was already preparing itself to dialogue on problems facing their nation. I spent 7 hours in the meeting, (due to interpretations of English and French), and they were fascinated by the way South Africa handled it internal problems and transition. They had also during their stay met with Department of Foreign Affairs, the Human Rights Commission, and the Commissioners from the now wrapped-up Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
We were shocked as the ANC to learn about the coup because the delegation was confident about their national dialogue and about the multi-party body charged with responsibility for their national reconciliation. The only group they said was not part of the dialogue was the rebel group made of the army members who had ran into exile after the two attempt coups, last year failed, however, had sent signals and appealed to them to participate in the dialogue. Unfortunately, the worst has happened.
It is with admiration to the Department of Foreign Affairs that continues to play a role in ensuring that all disputes and conflicts in the continent are resolved speedily and raising the flag of our country and its leadership in acting with the people of Africa to resolve our problems and face the challenges. You are indeed implementing the programmes of the African Rennaisance and must be commended for the good work. We read the report presented to parliament that spelt out some of the key challenges facing the continent, and which are;
Shouting, or making noise and ventilating air, amounts to hot air. Condemnation of Zimbabwe as the opposition parties want us to do will not help in the resolution of the problem.
Quiet diplomacy by its very nature is a dialogue between states. What is the attempt in any quiet diplomacy is to influence another state that is sovereign, to assist it, in achieving the desired objective.
The problem of poverty remains the biggest challenge for Africa. Currently the Southern Africa Region is afflicted by famine.
Unless something new and radical is done, Africa will not achieve the International Development Goals (IDGs) and the 7% annual Growth Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is not only the newest and most fashionable game in African continent, but also the latest in the efforts by African political leaders to deal collectively with the countless national, regional, and continental political, socio-economic problems and development challenges facing Africa.
Almost all African leaders have declared their commitment to NEPAD, which is the Agenda of Africa's economic up-liftment in the new millennium.
There were a number of criticisms recently by civil society organizations around lack of organic participation as the most vexatious of the concerns that could mar the otherwise commendable vision of African sustainable development that NEPAD invokes.
This has led according to Joseph Diescho, in his book "Understanding the Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), "It is this absence of participation by civil society in the lives of their communities that has led to the failure of most commendable projects undertaken by African leaders since the early days of independence".
The criticism was constructive and indeed mechanisms are now in place for the active participation of civil society in Africa. We call upon those who are just shouting from the sides and those who prefer to remain armchair critics, to take this opportunity and contribute to the implementation of NEPAD and to its enhancement.
I am glad to see the Department will be intensifying on the Presidential Outreach Programme aimed at popularizing NEPAD and the AU in parliament, provinces and local government structures, traditional leaders, business community, think tanks, and academic institutions, the media, diplomatic corps represented in South Africa, the ANC urge the department to also include youth and women formations, rural communities, organized workers (labour movement), religious sector, the sporting fraternity and cultural groups.
NEPAD, was globally endorsed as the development programme of the African Union, by the UN General Assembly, the Bretton Woods institutions (i.e. International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank) the G8 - Action Plan for Africa, the European Union (EU), the Japanese development initiative for Africa (TICAD), China - Africa Co-operation Forum, Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), Southern Common Market (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay (MERCUSOR) and Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) according to the report to parliament by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Comrade Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
Also, private sector is supporting NEPAD and the proposed US Millennium Challenge Account commences in 2004. More work will be continuing even though the dark clouds of war are hovering above us.
The challenge with the focus on war in IRAQ is the as President, Thabo Mbeki said at the All Africa Council of Churches in Johannesburg, "Although NEPAD and the AU are on track but the war will affect NEPAD and the African programmes. It will hamper development in Africa. Africa will go back in terms of attention given. We have to rely on ourselves, to rely on our efforts and to rely on our resources to the many challenges facing us in the continent".
It has been the critics view points that if we relying too much on foreign funding for NEPAD, and at the time they said; "NEPAD will turn into a Leopard and devour all of us." We must mobilize our domestic resources as the continent in addition to foreign funding and advance the objectives of NEPAD. Also, must create for ourselves markets, and increase trade amongst ourselves as nations if we are to conquer on our challenges.
On issues of Third World Countries
Most of the developing world countries are in the Sub Saharan world. In the countries in the third world, common feature is poverty. All inherited the legacy of colonialism, poor education, lack of skills, health problems. It is estimated that of the 12 million people who are positive, eight (8) million of them are in Africa. Malaria is the most responsible disease for the deaths in Africa.
The countries in the third world, are faced huge and digital and technological gap, have to compete in an unfair competition with the first world countries economically, and all have unfair trade relations imposed on them and lastly are burdened by debt, which scale differ from one country to the other.
The highly indebted and poor countries (HIPCs) are found in the South countries. People in this countries according to the research done by the United Conference on Trade and Development, Report of 2002, says; "One of the fundamental challenges facing the international community is to ensure that the potential gains from a more interdependent world economy are enjoyed by all, particularly the poorest countries and communities".
It is in the South where millions of people are without access to running water and access to energy. It is in the third countries were there are wars and conflicts that have arrested development which most of them are not of their own making.
To sum it up, I refer to David Crane of the Toronto Star, when he said in one his articles of March 16, 2003, "Bombs won't end Third world misery. Military force may be necessary to counter direct military threats, but military force cannot counter the deeper demographic trends that face the world, nor create the conditions for political for political stability and economic opportunity that the world craves" He argues further that; 'We have to actively assist the third world country societies to develop their own economies in their own ways. We must provide the necessary financial, technical and other help that these countries and societies need to advance in the world. Again, bombs and missiles won't solve these problems.
In conclusion:
I thank you! Bagageshu - Ke ya Leboga, Ngiya bonga, Ndiya Bulela! Baie dankie! Ke a Leboha!